My name is James Nielson and I am a student at Nagel Middle School. As part of a project, I am researching lead poisoning. After doing some research on the subject I still had several questions. Some of these questions are:
What is the most common way that the average person become infected with lead poisoning?
Other than the use of drugs to release the lead, are there other ways to get rid of lead poisoning?
After drug treatment, can or has anyone ever still experienced symptoms of lead poisoning
Thank you,
James Nielson Dear Sir,
Thanks for directing your questions to me.
Most lead-poisoned victims are children; most of these are poisoned by eating lead dust in their homes. Mostly this happens because the homes have lead paint; as the paint ages it flakes, chips, peels, and chaulks, giving off lead dust, which mixes with the house dust. The lead particles are heavier than the rest of the house dust. When Mom does her dusting and mopping, the lead can be left behind. Now the child crawls on the floor, and gets lead dust on his hands. Or the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is set down on top of the TV for a minute, and picks up a little lead dust. Or the toy comes out of a baby girl’s mouth, and falls on the floor, and gets a little lead dust on it before going back into the girl’s mouth. Or, sometimes, a boy sucks on a windowsill painted with lead, or a girl puts a piece of cheap jewelry in her mouth and the jewelry has lead in it. There are many other ways for kids to eat lead, but that’s the most common route of exposure.
Everyone who has had some lead absorption eliminates just a little bit of lead every day – in the stool, and also in the little bits of skin, hair, and nails. Two other factors account for lowering blood lead levels. First, as long as there’s lead in the blood, the bones will take up some lead from the blood, just as calcium is taken up by bones. Second, at least in kids with lead poisoning, as the child grows and gets bigger, the lead is diluted into a bigger and bigger container, resulting in lower levels. These three processes are very important; when we see children with blood lead levels that are not falling over a few months of observation, it proves the child is still getting exposed to lead. Really, the main treatment is to find where the child is getting exposed to lead and to make sure the exposure stops. Chelation is only rarely needed.
The reason all our public health agencies pay so much attention to lead poisoning is because there are many long-lasting and sometimes permanent effects. Little kids with lead poisoning can grow up to be perfectly normal, healthy, smart kids, but, compared to kids who’ve never been exposed to lead, lead-poisoned kids are more likely to drop out of school – that means a lifetime of lost potential, lower earnings, more struggles. These kids are more likely to get in trouble with the law, more likely to be fire-setters, more likely to have trouble reading. Kids who get lead poisoning are more likely to get high blood pressure when they grow up, and the blood pressure they get might be harder to treat; over a lifetime that blood pressure leads to higher risks of heart attack and stroke, and the medicines used to treat high blood pressure all have side effects. The biggest reason we all worry about childhood lead poisoning is that there’s some evidence lead-poisoned children have lower IQs than their peers, and while there can be some recovery if the lead poisoning is diagnosed and treated early, there’s some evidence that this IQ loss can be permanent. More reading difficulties, more school difficulties, more difficulties later in life trying to get high-paying jobs. It’s not a death sentence, and people who have had lead poisoning are not automatically condemned to a tough time in life, it’s just a matter of statistics – they’re more likely to have these troubles, and when we consider how many kids have had lead poisoning, the societal costs are very high indeed.
Dear Mr. Neilson, would you be so kind as to send me a copy of your final report, if it’s a document of some sort? I’m very interested in what you’ve discovered, and always eager to learn something new.
Thank you for the opportunity to assist in your research. Best wishes for success.
slide 1 (no lead sign) Hello and welcome to my voice thread presentation on lead poisoning in Ancient Rome.
slide 2 (lead coin) Lead was both good and bad for the ancient Romans. They used lead in cosmetics, coins, and jewelry. they also used lead pots for cooking and wine making. They insisted on using lead for wine because it added complementary flavors whereas other metals could add copper rust. Lead pipes were also used to transport water.
slide 3 (lead pipe) Because Rome was constantly using lead, many citizens suffered from lead poisoning, either through water from the pipes, from the food cooked in a lead pot or from direct exposure by touching or wearing it. Lead poisoning can lead to many health problems including... slide 4 (brain) brain damage, liver problems, headaches, irritability, and weakness. In severe cases, comas, convulsions and paralysis are possible. More Modern symptoms are failure in school, reduced IQ, Behavior and attention problems slide 5(coins) When many people in Rome were suffering from it, people thought that lead was the source of diseases. However, lead was such a huge part of their culture that they did nothing to stop it.
slide 6 (lead paint) Lead poisoning is a problem today as well as in Rome. Many children in the U.S. consume lead through old paint, jewelry, toys with lead paint and more. However, there are many ways to control lead poisoning, and the U.S. government has banned lead paint.
slide 7 (medicine) Doctors today can treat people with lead poisoning by giving the drugs that get rid of the lead, they can also use Chelation therapy, a treatment where medicine attaches itself to the lead so it can be removed.
Slide 8 (no lead sign) After researching the problem in Rome and modern solutions, I have determined a solution for the Roman empire. They should simply live in a lead free environment, to do this they could replace lead pipes with pvc or other non corrosive materials, use iron or steel pots for cooking and wine making. They could replace lead jewelry with different metals, and stop producing coins and cosmetics with lead. For the people who already had lead poisoning, they could be treated with modern drugs.
http://voicethread.com/share/4034714/
Research https://docs.google.com/a/foresthills.edu/document/d/1X9LlDNca71X0zpiUEf2NMI8x5z5eXBV78z6DF1T8pVk/edit
Solutions https://docs.google.com/a/foresthills.edu/document/d/1IKK3HlVVJODPFR08ZkNKs4RiUqvDlvGR9UYmxfP3yXs/edit
Dear Dr. Casavant,
My name is James Nielson and I am a student at Nagel Middle School. As part of a project, I am researching lead poisoning. After doing some research on the subject I still had several questions. Some of these questions are:
- What is the most common way that the average person become infected with lead poisoning?
- Other than the use of drugs to release the lead, are there other ways to get rid of lead poisoning?
- After drug treatment, can or has anyone ever still experienced symptoms of lead poisoning
Thank you,James Nielson
Dear Sir,
Thanks for directing your questions to me.
Most lead-poisoned victims are children; most of these are poisoned by eating lead dust in their homes. Mostly this happens because the homes have lead paint; as the paint ages it flakes, chips, peels, and chaulks, giving off lead dust, which mixes with the house dust. The lead particles are heavier than the rest of the house dust. When Mom does her dusting and mopping, the lead can be left behind. Now the child crawls on the floor, and gets lead dust on his hands. Or the peanut butter and jelly sandwich is set down on top of the TV for a minute, and picks up a little lead dust. Or the toy comes out of a baby girl’s mouth, and falls on the floor, and gets a little lead dust on it before going back into the girl’s mouth. Or, sometimes, a boy sucks on a windowsill painted with lead, or a girl puts a piece of cheap jewelry in her mouth and the jewelry has lead in it. There are many other ways for kids to eat lead, but that’s the most common route of exposure.
Everyone who has had some lead absorption eliminates just a little bit of lead every day – in the stool, and also in the little bits of skin, hair, and nails. Two other factors account for lowering blood lead levels. First, as long as there’s lead in the blood, the bones will take up some lead from the blood, just as calcium is taken up by bones. Second, at least in kids with lead poisoning, as the child grows and gets bigger, the lead is diluted into a bigger and bigger container, resulting in lower levels. These three processes are very important; when we see children with blood lead levels that are not falling over a few months of observation, it proves the child is still getting exposed to lead. Really, the main treatment is to find where the child is getting exposed to lead and to make sure the exposure stops. Chelation is only rarely needed.
The reason all our public health agencies pay so much attention to lead poisoning is because there are many long-lasting and sometimes permanent effects. Little kids with lead poisoning can grow up to be perfectly normal, healthy, smart kids, but, compared to kids who’ve never been exposed to lead, lead-poisoned kids are more likely to drop out of school – that means a lifetime of lost potential, lower earnings, more struggles. These kids are more likely to get in trouble with the law, more likely to be fire-setters, more likely to have trouble reading. Kids who get lead poisoning are more likely to get high blood pressure when they grow up, and the blood pressure they get might be harder to treat; over a lifetime that blood pressure leads to higher risks of heart attack and stroke, and the medicines used to treat high blood pressure all have side effects. The biggest reason we all worry about childhood lead poisoning is that there’s some evidence lead-poisoned children have lower IQs than their peers, and while there can be some recovery if the lead poisoning is diagnosed and treated early, there’s some evidence that this IQ loss can be permanent. More reading difficulties, more school difficulties, more difficulties later in life trying to get high-paying jobs. It’s not a death sentence, and people who have had lead poisoning are not automatically condemned to a tough time in life, it’s just a matter of statistics – they’re more likely to have these troubles, and when we consider how many kids have had lead poisoning, the societal costs are very high indeed.
Dear Mr. Neilson, would you be so kind as to send me a copy of your final report, if it’s a document of some sort? I’m very interested in what you’ve discovered, and always eager to learn something new.
Thank you for the opportunity to assist in your research. Best wishes for success.
Sincerely,
Marcel Casavant MD
Solutions...
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/pharmacologicalandbiologicaltreatment/chelation-therapy Remove lead from the environment and stop using lead. stop making jewelry and cosmetics without lead, use copper or different materials to make pipes, and cook and make wine(or just stop making wine) with non-lead pots.
Final project voice thread script.
slide 1 (no lead sign) Hello and welcome to my voice thread presentation on lead poisoning in Ancient Rome.slide 2 (lead coin) Lead was both good and bad for the ancient Romans. They used lead in cosmetics, coins, and jewelry. they also used lead pots for cooking and wine making. They insisted on using lead for wine because it added complementary flavors whereas other metals could add copper rust. Lead pipes were also used to transport water.
slide 3 (lead pipe) Because Rome was constantly using lead, many citizens suffered from lead poisoning, either through water from the pipes, from the food cooked in a lead pot or from direct exposure by touching or wearing it. Lead poisoning can lead to many health problems including...
slide 4 (brain) brain damage, liver problems, headaches, irritability, and weakness. In severe cases, comas, convulsions and paralysis are possible. More Modern symptoms are failure in school, reduced IQ, Behavior and attention problems
slide 5 (coins) When many people in Rome were suffering from it, people thought that lead was the source of diseases. However, lead was such a huge part of their culture that they did nothing to stop it.
slide 6 (lead paint) Lead poisoning is a problem today as well as in Rome. Many children in the U.S. consume lead through old paint, jewelry, toys with lead paint and more. However, there are many ways to control lead poisoning, and the U.S. government has banned lead paint.
slide 7 (medicine) Doctors today can treat people with lead poisoning by giving the drugs that get rid of the lead, they can also use Chelation therapy, a treatment where medicine attaches itself to the lead so it can be removed.
Slide 8 (no lead sign) After researching the problem in Rome and modern solutions, I have determined a solution for the Roman empire. They should simply live in a lead free environment, to do this they could replace lead pipes with pvc or other non corrosive materials, use iron or steel pots for cooking and wine making. They could replace lead jewelry with different metals, and stop producing coins and cosmetics with lead. For the people who already had lead poisoning, they could be treated with modern drugs.
citations and credits.
http://flecklures.com/products-page/no-lead/
http://www.helpyourautisticchildblog.com/category/chelation-therapy/page/2/
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~toxmetal/toxic-metals/more-metals/lead-history.html
http://www.puroserve.com/blog/a-short-history-of-plumbing-part-one-the-ancient-world-2/
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/patient-education-materials/atlas-of-human-body/brain-effects-stroke.page
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/jul/24/arts-philanthropy-france-le-mecenat
http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Action-Enviro.Services.661-247-0014/picture/view/3969788